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CARDIFF: India hammered Australia by 243 runs in a Champions Trophy warm-up match after skittling out the defending champions for just 65 in Cardiff on Tuesday.

Umesh Yadav did the bulk of the damage, taking the first five wickets to fall in a stunning return of five for 18 in just five overs.

Meanwhile fellow paceman Ishant Sharma bagged three for 11 against an Australia side where Shane Watson was given a rest from batting following his hundred in a warm-up match against the West Indies.

Only two Australia batsmen Adam Voges (23) and Phil Hughes (14) made it into double figures, with the innings all wrapped up in the 24th over.

“It was a disappointing game, I'm not sure how we'll react to it,” said George Bailey, captaining Australia in the absence of the injured Michael Clarke.

“It was certainly not the way we wanted to play but if you are going to have a game like that, you may as well have it in a practice game.”

Earlier, world champions India collapsed to 55 for five before Dinesh Karthik revived the innings with a superb 146 not out, adding 211 for the fifth wicket with captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (91) to get the side to a total of 308 for six.

“It was really well batted by Dinesh and MS, we couldn't quite get the sixth and seventh wickets to really nail that innings off,” Bailey said.

“Two new balls is challenging, you saw that with both sides losing their top-order cheaply, in English conditions.”

Dhoni was delighted by the form of Karthik, his understudy as wicket-keeper, and said he was now set to play as a batsman only when India open the tournament proper against South Africa in Cardiff on Thursday.

“Well, to start off Dinesh batted really well. That partnership between me and him got us to a respectable score and then the bowling was up to the mark.

“I think he has earned his place in the side and we'll just have to see who misses out when we play against South Africa. I'd like him to play at the top of the order but we'll see,” Dhoni added before turning to his attack.

“We used five bowlers and all of them got wickets. Umesh is one of the quickest bowlers we have and with the two paced pitch here, the ball was holding up, not much, but just enough which was why there were so many inside edges.”

This was Karthik's second century, albeit in warm-up matches, after his unbeaten 106 against Sri Lanka on June 1.

“I've been hitting the ball really well,” Karthik said at the innings break. “When you come in at six, it's important to assess the situation. When you have Dhoni around it's important to rotate the strike.

“It was a good bowling attack, and it feels good to get some runs. I have had a good IPL and it's important to keep the same momentum from that.”

Australia were without Clarke because of a recurrence of a longstanding back injury which has made him doubtful for the side's tournament opener against England at Edgbaston on Saturday.

Comments (13) Closed

If the top order fails like this,you can't miracle every time .the team will have to stay Rock solid.

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jpsundriyalJun 04, 2013 11:07pm

if the top order fails like this,we should not expect miracle every time. The top should stay rock Solid...!

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RameshJun 05, 2013 12:18am

Re: "...Australia side where Shane Watson was given a rest from batting..."

Now we know that it was Shane Watson's clone who was bowled by Ishant Sharma at a score of 4 in the above match!

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AshishJun 05, 2013 04:12am

Big money and huge corruption can buy entire teams now! Wow!!

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khanJun 05, 2013 06:26am

another fixed match

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wahabJun 05, 2013 07:01am

Well done India i guess was a piece of cake, well Dawn does publish positive news about indian cricket

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khanJun 05, 2013 07:50am

another fixed match

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ashokJun 05, 2013 09:17am

You have a mistake to correct.Shane Watson did play in this game and got bowled out for only 4.an appology in this matter is not needed.

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Mohammad ArifJun 05, 2013 03:00pm

@Ramesh:
Hahaha.........Well said Ramesh.

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A ShahJun 05, 2013 05:22pm

Why cant Pakistan play as good as India?

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DeepJun 05, 2013 07:09pm

@khan:
What else you true Pakistani can say ????? Whole tournament is fixed can you recall team from land of the pure ???
YOu are not alone, even Moderator is with you who allowed such cynical comment to be published twice while rejecting so many for no valid reason. It only exposes how serious is your sickness.

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rajJun 06, 2013 02:14pm

Australia got thrashed and Pakistan will b thrashed next as Captain is tuk tuk ...Keep it up Dhonii .......You are a great leader and really true class master blaster.......